Rainy Days and Mondays
by Riniele
Summary: Finn Hudson was having a really bad day and the last thing he needed was a girl sat on a bench snapping at him for trying to be nice. But as fate would have it, that's precisely what he got. Finn&Quinn, friendship and later relationship, sort of AU
1. Rainy Days and Mondays

**Here's another Finn/Quinn story for all my wonderful Fuinnatics =).**

**It's sort of AU I guess. Set at the beginning of Season 2. Quinn never went out with Finn - or Puck - and therefore never joined Glee club.**

**Warnings: Rated for a bit of bad language.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee... that should be exceedingly obvious considering my pairings of choice ;P. I do however like to take the characters and play with them for my own amusement =D.**

**Anyways, here goes, enjoy 3.**

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**Rainy Days and Mondays**

_Sometimes I'd like to quit__  
__Nothing ever seems to fit__  
__Hanging around, nothing to do but frown__  
__Rainy days and Mondays always get me down_

Finn Hudson was having a bad day.

Actually, Finn Hudson was pretty much having the worst day in his own personal history of bad days. It had been just been your average bad day until football practise, and he thought it might still have been saved from being the absolute worst, if only his mom hadn't been held up at work, forcing him to walk home… and it hadn't started to pour down with rain when he was only halfway between home and school. So yeah, Finn Hudson was most definitely having a bad day; and it was only Monday!

Soaking wet he considered throwing the English test he'd gotten back in last period in a trashcan as he approached it; but he had already told his mom about the test, and she'd only ask him where it was. So, instead, he kicked at the trashcan as he walked past it. It was an attempt at releasing some frustration, but all it did was make a loud clanging noise and hurt his foot. He stopped, wincing and swearing at the offending inanimate object, and looked around him to gage where he was… maybe it would be faster to just head to Puck's house… no, not Puck, maybe one of the other football guys.

As he was wasting the time that might have been better spent continuing his journey on deciding how best to continue said journey, his eyes glanced over a hunched shape on a bench on the opposite sidewalk. At first he looked straight past it, but when it shifted in the corner of his vision, his eyes snapped back. It was a girl… blonde, possibly; it was hard to tell with her hair soaked and plastered to her skin. She was clearly upset about something. Now, Finn wasn't the most observant guy in the world – something his football coach liked to remind him of almost every session – but that much he could tell. She was hunched over, her head in her hands, her fingers curled slightly into her wet hair as if pulling at it, and most importantly she either didn't realise that it was raining, or she simply didn't care. Finn thought of just walking away and leaving her to it for exactly five seconds before he found himself already walking across the street towards her.

"Hey," He called as he drew closer. The girl looked up, her eyes narrowed in his direction, but other than that she didn't respond as Finn halted, standing beside her now. "Are uh… are you okay?" _oh wow, stupid question, well done_, he thought almost hitting himself.

"Do I _look_ okay to you," The girl snapped. Finn supposed he had well and truly asked for that one. He peered down at the girls face, her eyes were red and puffy and her make-up was running slightly – probably from the combination of crying and the heavy rain – clearly she was not okay. _Stupid, stupid question!_ She shook her head in clear frustration and buried her head back into her hands.

"Uh, no I guess not…" Finn trailed off lamely, biting his lip. He wasn't sure what to do now. It was obvious that this girl didn't want him there, but on the other hand, it just didn't feel right to leave her here sat in the rain; however hostile she might be acting. "Can I… um… can I help at all? Do you maybe want… to talk about it," Her head shot up again and the glare she gave him was truly quite frightening.

"Why the hell would I want to talk to you about my problems, what do you know huh?" She growled, "Just… leave me alone okay?"

Finn frowned to himself, not knowing how to handle this. Crying women were not his forte, especially crying women he didn't even know. Plus, he was a little offended and annoyed by her statement. What did he know about problems? Plenty, as it happened. He arranged his features to glare right back at her, but found she was looking away towards to other end of the street. Making his mind up he huffed loudly and said "Fine!" marching a couple of steps forward and parking himself down beside her on the bench. He ignored her indignant squawk of protest; in fact he ignored her all together. Choosing instead to stare straight ahead towards the trashcan he had kicked a few minutes ago, sending it all his annoyance for causing this situation in the first place.

There was silence for about a minute, in which he was very aware of her staring right at him, but he kept his eyes firmly focussed ahead; eventually however she was the one to break it.

"Just what exactly are you trying to achieve here?"

Finn shrugged, "Nothing much,"

"Oh right, I'm supposed to believe that you're here out of the goodness of your heart right? You're just a 'nice guy', right?"

Still staring ahead Finn screwed up his face in mock annoyance "I'm sorry, why do you assume that this is about _you_?" he asked, flicking his eyes to his right to watch her expression change from the corner of his eye. He had to battle to keep himself from laughing at the confusion that spread across her face. She recovered swiftly however and glared again.

"Because it is, you…"

"No actually it isn't. It was, and now it's not,"

"Then what the hell are you still doing here?" She was nearly shouting by this point, her whole face red now, not just her eyes.

"It's a free country; I can sit on a bench if I want to." Finn replied.

"You don't have to sit on this one," She said sulkily, leaning back and folding her arms.

"I don't see any others around here,"

"Why do you want to sit on a bench in this… _this?_" She gestured wildly to the rain that continued to pour down on both of them.

"I'm feeling sorry for myself,"

"What do _you_ have to feel sorry about yourself for?" she muttered, rolling her eyes.

Finn scoffed and finally looked around. "Oh, so you're going to shoot me down for asking you what you're doing here but now you want to know about my problems?" He said, "That's a little hyp… hip... hypa…"

"Hypocritical?" She snapped impatiently, looking away from him again. He blushed slightly, his façade slipping a little.

"Uh yeah, that…"

They lapsed back into silence again, this time Finn stared while she tried to ignore him. He could practically see her mind working as she chewed on her bottom lip. She was dying to ask him about why he was moping and he knew it.

"Anyway is it so hard to believe I might have my own problems?" he said after watching her stew for a while.

"If you don't want to talk about it then don't!" She replied, still refusing to look at him.

"Well, they say a problem shared is a problem halved right? Even if it is with someone who couldn't care less," She huffed.

"Fine!" She said, shifting on the bench so she was facing him, a look of what was clearly mocking interest on her face, "Fire away jock boy, what does the famous Quarterback have to be upset about!"

Finn was taken aback for a moment, "Wait, you know who I am?" she rolled her eyes again. "Everyone in the school knows who you are," he felt suddenly bad, she knew who he was, and he didn't have the first clue who _she_ was. He stared at her for a moment, and now he thought about it, she was vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place her.

"Yeah well… that's probably not going to be true much longer," He said, looking down at his hands. "Coach says if my grades don't pick up, I'm off the team,"

"Oh poor baby," came the sarcastic reply.

"Yeah well it might not seem like anything to you, but I need to get a football scholarship so I can go to college and get the hell out of this stupid little town!" He snapped back at her; and to her credit she had the decency to look a little ashamed.

"You think I want to be stuck here my whole life in some dead end job? But I can't even get a half decent grade on a stupid English test," he swung his rucksack off his shoulder, unzipping it angrily and reaching inside to pull out the damning piece of paper; shoving it under her nose.

"That… well…"  
"Yeah. Not great huh?" He said, stuffing the now sopping wet paper back into his bag, not even really caring that it might tear.

"And not only that, but my girlfriend broke up with me last week because, and I quote 'you're too popular'… she wanted me to quit football and focus more on Glee club or something, as if I don't do enough for them already, every time they have a fucking crisis I have to be there to pick up the pieces, and to top it off today she sang this romantic song with my ex best friend – who for the record is also on the football team – and who she is probably going out with now considering how flirty they were being,"

"Sounds like a bitch,"

Finn sighed loudly, "That's the thing… she's not really. I mean she can be a bit in your face and overdramatic sometimes but, she can also be really sweet too, and she tries so hard to please people, it had to be hard for her to be with someone popular when she isn't herself… but I mean, well, it wasn't working,"

"Sounds like you still have it pretty bad though,"

"Maybe… not really… I don't really know."

"I forgot you're in the Glee club, that's weird, I mean… you being quarterback and stuff,"

"Yeah… apparently the rest of the football guys think so too, got my usual slushie facial this morning,"

"I've seen them do that…"

"It sucks." He said angrily, "It's like… well really it's being hit in the face with lots of tiny little shards of ice, so it's like instant brain freeze and pain; and the dye stains too… You'd think the quarterback would catch a break huh? But no. Even Santana and Brittany don't and they're Cheerio's."

"Yeah, they complain about it at practise," Finn's head span around.

"You're on the Cheerio's?"

She let out a slightly shrill laugh at that, "Well, I was!" her tone was bitter, and Finn wondered why she wasn't any longer on the schools cheerleading team… girls didn't quit Cheerio's, that uniform meant stardom – unless you were also in Glee club – it was instant popularity. Finn studied the girl again, sure that he would recognise a Cheerio. She sighed dramatically through his silence and pulled her hair back, holding it up as if in a high ponytail, "Any better?" she asked. It clicked very suddenly, and Finn couldn't believe he hadn't recognised her straight away, but then, it was raining and her usually flawless appearance was… less than flawless, and besides she looked very different with her hair down.

"Quinn Fabray?" he exclaimed suddenly, and letting her hair fall back around her face she nodded, shrugging slightly and looking down into her lap.

It was ridiculous. He was sat in the pouring rain, on a bench, venting his problems to head cheerleader Quinn Fabray; and he hadn't even realised it. Well this was surreal.

"What do you mean… you were?"

She shifted slightly in her seat, looking uncomfortable.

"I got kicked off,"

Finn looked at her, confused. Quinn Fabray was the most popular girl in school. She wasn't the type of girl who got kicked out of anything, people practically begged her to be in their clubs, she'd made head cheerleader after her freshman year and lead the Cheerio's to a Nationals win.

"But… why?"

Quinn was silent, still looking down into her lap. Her eyes were turning red again, and she was clearly holding back more tears.

"Wait, is that why you're out here?"

Her head snapped up and the glare was back in full force, "Don't be ridiculous! Do you honestly think I'm that pathetic?" Finn threw his hands up in surrender almost immediately.

"Woh, okay, scary girl… I didn't say that,"

There were a few seconds of silence where she continued to glare, but then it seemed she got tired of it and sighed as if defeated tilting her head back and closing her eyes "I… I got kicked off because… I was slacking and apparently I put too much weight on," she said after a moment. Finn looked her up and down, raising an eyebrow. She certainly didn't look like she wasn't in shape to him.

"Coach Sylvester is very particular about our weight," Quinn added in explanation. She reached her hands up to wipe the water off her face, looking back down again and playing with the bottom of her coat. No more explanation seemed to be coming however and Finn wasn't willing to let the conversation die out now, just when he'd been getting somewhere.

"Seems like we've both had pretty sucky days huh? You get kicked off the team and called fat, and I'm pretty damn close to being kicked off my team, I get ice in my face in the morning, bad grades, my mom leaves me to walk home in the rain… and to top it all off, you know what happened on my way back?"

"What?" Quinn asked glancing up at him.

"I met this really odd girl who insists on sitting on benches in the rain, and hey I was just trying to be nice, but she got all snappy with me and now I'm sat here wallowing in self-pity with her,"

He grinned to himself as he watched the corners of her mouth twitch upwards just slightly. "On the plus side though, I'll probably catch a cold and have a valid excuse for missing school tomorrow,"

"You're the moron who chose to stay," she replied, the small smile still on her lips.

"That's true I guess, must have hit my head during practise or something,"

Quinn let out a tiny, breathy laugh, and went back to fiddling with her coat.

"My parents are getting a divorce," she said suddenly, sniffing slightly a moment later. Finn doesn't really know what to say, so he stays silent and lets her continue.

She sniffs a couple more times, and swallows hard before speaking again, "They uh… my Dad was cheating on my mom so she uh, she threw him out, the papers came through this morning. I guess I was so upset I completely forgot about my diet and just comfort ate for weeks so that's why I'm off the team… and my older sister is away and she can't get back so I don't even have anyone to talk to… I mean for all I'm supposed to be popular I couldn't think of a single person I felt I could talk about this with, how sad is that huh? I'm supposed to be Quinn Fabray head cheerleader, head of the celibacy club, the most popular girl in school and I realised today that… I don't actually have any friends. Not like, real ones or anything… just, people I hang out with at weekends. I mean why would I? I'm a bitch to most people and I keep even the other popular kids at a distance. And to top it all off my I broke up with my boyfriend a few days ago, because when I tried to talk to him he made out that I was overreacting and that it wasn't even a big deal, and then he complained when I refused to sleep with him, he even tried to get me drunk enough to agree…" she was crying again now, and Finn reached out a hand and put it on her shoulder, feeling slightly uncomfortable, but suddenly very sorry for the girl sat beside him. He had seen his own mother go through enough heartache to understand how that hurt, but he'd never had a father, so he couldn't imagine losing one like that; and he'd always had friends he could talk to, especially since joining Glee club… actually.

"You should join Glee club," He said suddenly.

Quinn sniffed loudly and looked up at him, and kind of 'the hell did you just say' expression on her face "What?" she asked, incredulously.

"I uh… look I know people think that it's lame and everything but… Glee club is fun, and everyone is really good friends in there, it might be good for you," He squeezed her shoulder slightly, "They've been there for me this year a lot, and for each other… plus we sing some really awesome songs and it's a laugh, we got through to regionals last year which was really awesome."

"You realise it's social suicide right?" Quinn said raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah but…"

"And that you spent a good few minutes ranting at me about how horrible it is getting a slushie thrown in your face?"

"Well, yeah."

"And this is what you want me to walk into?"

"Look, I know it sounds kind of bad when you put it like that…  
"Well it doesn't sound great," she said, cocking her head to one side, a slightly amused expression beginning to find its way onto her tear stained face.

"But really it's awesome and…" Finn trailed off, eyeing her suspiciously, "You're messing with me," he said after a moment, watching her smile fully for the first time since he had walked over.

"Honestly? I actually really wanted to join Glee club, I love singing and dancing and all that" She said, "But I guess, it was just so… not cool… I didn't dare. But hey, if I'm going to be a nobody anyway right? And I… already have a friend in there, it might be kind of nice"

Finn gave her a slightly questioning look before her meaning dawned on him. He grinned at her, "Totally… and it'll be awesome to see the looks on the rest of their faces when you walk in,"

"I hope they don't walk out… I haven't exactly been nice to them myself…"

"They'll be fine, they accepted Santana after all,"

Quinn giggled slightly at that. "I guess," She said. Finn smiled at her, kind of proud of himself for cheering her up. She looked a lot prettier now that she was smiling. Like he'd always thought she was kind of hot… all the Cheerio's were – but right now, even with her hair soaked and with puffy eyes and running makeup, with that smile on her face she looked really pretty; and he'd put it there.

"Maybe we can get off this bench now?" He suggested, and she laughed again, wiping at her face before nodding. They stood up together.

"Is your house far?" She asked, as they started to walk.

"Uh… about twenty minutes,"

"Mine's just around the corner… do you… would you like to dry off? My mom will be there but she won't mind,"

Finn only had to think about it for a moment, before nodding; trying to control it and stop it from seeming too eager, but judging from Quinn's giggle, failing miserably.

"That would be great, thanks,"

She nodded in reply "This way then," she said brightly, and slipped and arm through his and beginning a brisk pace down the street, as if getting to her house fast made any difference to how wet they'd be when they got there. Finn stepped easily alongside her – having at least a head and shoulders height on her – and thought idly that perhaps this wasn't the _absolute_ worst day ever.

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**Reviews are the surest way to show you care =). Xx Rini**


	2. Ruby Tuesday

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee... that should be exceedingly obvious considering my pairings of choice ;P. I do however like to take the characters and play with them for my own amusement =D.**

**Enjoy x**

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**Ruby Tuesday**

_There's no time to lose, I heard her say  
Catch your dreams before they slip away  
Dying all the time. Lose your dreams  
And you will lose your mind.  
Ain't life unkind?  
_

Quinn swallowed hard, peering for a moment into the choir room where the members of the Glee club were already assembled. Only Finn was missing, and she wished that he would hurry up before someone noticed her skulking outside. He had promised her the evening before that he would meet her for her first visit to the club, so that she wouldn't have to walk in alone. Unfortunately, somehow he had managed to be the last one there and she had spent the last ten minutes going from one end of the corridor to the other, trying to look inconspicuous, as the rest of the club had filed in.

She peered in again, and as she did so she felt a tickling sensation in her nose. Before she could turn away again she gave a loud squeaky sneeze and span quickly away as the whole Glee club span to look in her direction. She cursed the rain from the day before as she pressed against the lockers to the side of the door; cringing slightly and considering just walking away. It wasn't like she had anything to lose, not really, she could just walk away and get on with her life without having to worry about who was going to throw a slushie into her face. Relative anonymity was surely a better way to survive her remaining two years of high school than being a known member of the club at the absolute bottom of the social pyramid. It was already bad enough that everyone knew she had been kicked off the Cheerio's, but the gossip surrounding that would soon die down; she might even be able to try out again next year.

She really was about to walk away from the choir room and head for her car when Finn popped into her head. She hadn't been lying to him when she said that she enjoyed singing and dancing. One of the reasons she had so wanted to be a cheerleader was the performance aspect of it, and it came with popularity too, unlike the Glee club. She loved those things, and she had kind of promised him that she'd at least give it a try, but did that really matter? Who was he to her anyway? They'd never even spoken to one another before now, just because they moved in the same circles didn't mean that all the football players and cheerleaders knew each other. They went to the same parties and sat in the same area of the cafeteria, but that was as far as it went really. The only two cheerio's that she had ever really spoken to were Santana and Brittany - and that had changed recently - and the only football player she really knew was the new guy, Sam, who went to her church; and who, she noted, had also recently joined the Glee club. The fact was, she didn't _owe_ Finn anything, just because he had taken his time to wallow in self-pity on a bench with her the day before. She was completely free to make her own decisions, and besides, she'd been upset yesterday, he couldn't hold her to things she'd agreed to when she was cold and wet and miserable; that would just be ridiculous. Still, the thought of her promise to him kept her rooted to the spot, and just as she defiantly told herself that she really _was_ here because she wanted to be and not because Finn –school quarterback – Hudson had asked her to be, she felt a tap on her shoulder and nearly jumped a foot in the air.

"Woh, jumpy?" Finn laughed, as she took in a deep breath and turned red. She fixed her expression and glared at him.

"You didn't have to sneak up on me!" she snapped quietly, folding her arms across her chest. Finn just laughed at her again and she felt indignation boiling up inside her; nobody ever laughed when Quinn Fabray glared at them, nobody! Except, it seemed nobody had thought to tell that to Finn.

"I didn't sneak," He said after a moment, "But you did look kind of lost in thought there, you alright?"

Quinn huffed and put her hands on her hips instead, "I'm fine, it wasn't anything important," she replied irritably, "You were late,"

Finn's face fell a little "Yeah, sorry, one of my teachers held me back, over another test," he said, looking off to one side; Quinn felt suddenly like she had just kicked a puppy. She sighed loudly and let her hands fall to her side.

"It's fine, you're here now," she said, "Shall we go in?" She tried to sound nonchalant to hide her nerves, but from the way he suddenly looked at her and grinned she thought perhaps she had done a bad job of it. Still, it clearly cheered him up, and he did look a lot better when he was smiling; so she offered him a small smile in return and let him lead the way into the choir room.

The club had already started their vocal warm-ups, which explained why nobody had come to check outside when she and Finn had been talking. They all stopped dead however when they noticed Quinn trailing into the room behind Finn. All except a small brunette in the centre, who continued her scale for a few beats, before realising that everyone else had fallen silent around her. Quinn felt her nerves double, and when she got this nervous, her defences tended to kick in. She felt her shoulders fall back and her face begin assume its usual expression of assumed superiority to anything and everything around her; then Finn called out a friendly 'hey' to the room and put an arm around her shoulders. She was so shocked by the sudden familiarity that her walls crumbled and she looked round at him with a confused expression.

"This is Quinn," he announced loudly, as if any of them should be in any doubt as to who had just walked into their club room. Everyone else in the room remained silent, just staring at her. Finn faltered slightly, looking around at everyone in turn, before continuing slowly, "She… wants to join Glee club,"

Quinn thought 'wants' was a little bit strong. Especially as she was seriously considering just shouting "April fool, losers" and marching out again, if they continued to just stare at her for any longer, when Santana finally broke the awkward silence.

"So Queen Fabray deigns to join us lowly peasants," she drawled from her seat at the back of the room, "To what do we owe the honour?" she smirked, "Oh wait. I forgot. You lost your crown right? _Shame_. How's life on the bottom rung, I guess we're the best you can do nowadays,"

"Trust me Santana," Quinn replied with a smirk of her own, "However far I fall, I will always be able to do better than _you_. How's the bottom of the pyramid treating you?"

Santana stood up sharply and was clearly about to retaliate when a voice shouted across her. "Okay guys, that's enough," Will Schuester, show choir coach and part time Spanish teacher had stepped forward with his hands up in a 'halt' gesture. Quinn let out a small breathy laugh and looked away at the wall as Santana sat down heavily, clearly annoyed at being interrupted.

"Quinn?" She looked back around at Will, who was smiling at her. "It's very nice to have you here." She quirked her lips in an ever so slight smile in response, and he turned away to face the rest of the club, clapping his hands together.

"Okay guys, take your seats,"

Quinn looked around at Finn, who nodded encouragingly. She took a deep breath, letting it out again in a sigh, looking around her for an empty seat. The rest of the club had already taken their places, and Quinn noticed that the only two seats remaining were not next to one another. She refused to show any weakness however, and strode forward with her head high, taking a seat at the very front between an Asian girl whom she knew nothing about at all, and fellow cheerleader (ex-fellow) Brittany who for some inexplicable reason was not sat beside Santana. Quinn briefly wondered what had broken up the unbreakable duo and watched as Finn walked to the back, sitting between Santana herself and the little brunette girl… Rachel Berry, Quinn mused, she'd come to celibacy club once and halfway through announced to the room that they were all kidding themselves before flouncing off. That hadn't stopped her turning up for the thunderclap photo though.

Rachel immediately leant in, to whisper to Finn, who looked suddenly very uncomfortable as he whispered something back. Quinn suddenly remembered seeing them walking arm in arm down the corridor a few weeks before; so she was the ex girlfriend. Whatever Finn had said in response clearly didn't cut it for Rachel because her expression turned incredulous and she hissed something back.

"Right!" Mr Schuester said loudly and Quinn glanced at him, tearing her eyes from Finn and Rachel's argument.

"Mr Schue?" Rachel said only a second later. Quinn looked back again, and found the brunette sat primly in her chair, no longer leaned towards Finn, with her hand in the air. Mr Schuester seemed to visibly deflate in front of them.

"Yes Rachel," He said with an air of long suffering, apparently Rachel's hand went up frequently in this club.

"I think that it needs pointing out, but everyone in this club had to audition for Glee club, and I believe that it is really only fair if Quinn," she nodded towards Quinn, "Do so as well,"

"Rachel, everyone who ever auditioned automatically got in," Finn protested.

"You guys all know how much I hate to agree with Rachel, but I agree with Rachel," Kurt Hummel piped up from the end of the front row, "Everyone else here had to prove themselves, and besides we should know what she's capable of,"

A few other people around Quinn nodded in agreement and she felt a blush beginning to creep up her body; she fought it down. Mr Schuester nodded and caught her eye, he looked apologetic as he asked if she would mind doing an audition piece. She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak just yet, let her voice give away her nerves. Will explained that she could pick any song she wanted and perform it the next day, she just nodded along until finally he clapped his hands together again and strode over to the white board, writing something on it and facing the clubroom, talking about something or other, Quinn couldn't hear a word. She hadn't expected to be put in the spotlight so early on, Mr Schuester had said that she could just do the audition in front of him rather than the whole club if she wanted; but her stupid pride had kicked in and she shook her head and managed to get the words "It's fine," out without stuttering. It wasn't fine at all of course, she had never actually sung solo in front of anyone but her parents; and that had been when she was seven. Now the only times she really sang were when she was alone in the house, turning beet red if ever she was caught, or in church where there were lots of other voices drowning hers out. Her mother always told her that she sounded like an angel, but that was probably just one of those things that mothers were _supposed_ to say.

Once Mr Schuester had finished saying… whatever it was that he had been saying, the rest of the club leapt immediately into action. Kurt was out of his seat and talking rapidly to Mercedes Jones as he dragged her off to one side, Brittany leant across Quinn to the Asian girl (Tina?) and was asking her whether if you hit the scales on a fish they all made different noises. Mike Chang and Artie… something or other, were deep in conversation too, and Mike started pop n locking on the spot.

Quinn felt a hand on her shoulder and jumped slightly, turning abruptly to find Finn laughing at her, "You really are jumpy today," he said, "Want to team up?"

"What are we teaming up for?" Quinn said, thoroughly confused and kind of wishing she had actually listened to Mr Schuester.

"Coming up with song ideas for this week's assignment," Finn nodded to the board and Quinn looked around.

The word 'POPULAR' was written in large, capital letters across the white surface, and Quinn frowned; needless to mention, popularity was rather a sore topic for her right now.

"On Monday's Mr Schue gives us a topic and we spend the week coming up with ideas and performing them, either as solos, duets or small groups, then at the end of the week we put together a group performance to sum up," Quinn raised a brow, she hadn't realised the Glee club even had a system, she just assumed they would just randomly burst into song.

"So this week it's popularity," Finn finished, looking at her expectantly as if assuming she was full of brilliant ideas, when in reality she didn't even know where to begin.

She stared at the board blankly, trying to think of anything intelligent to say. Mr Schuester paced around the room, announcing loudly "Is popularity the be all and end all? What does popularity mean to you?"

Quinn thought about it, everything, she thought, nothing, she thought again. Honestly she didn't know, sometimes it felt like there was nothing more in the world that she wanted than to be popular. Being popular meant that everyone loved you, and anyone that didn't love you envied you… at least, that's what she had always thought. The last couple of days had been rather an eye-opener for her, the speed at which she had fallen from grace had been astounding. Aside from the morning when she could feel everyone talking about her and exchanging views on why she had been dropped from the Cheerio's, she had spent most of the day feeling completely invisible. The other cheerleaders had completely ignored her, apart from Brittany of course, and nobody had spared her a glance all day; even when they were blatantly talking about her. What was really strange was that even though when she stopped to really think about it, she felt awful, but for the vast majority of the time she had been feeling rather relaxed. Nobody had been staring at her, so she hadn't had to keep worrying if her hair looked perfect, or whether her make-up was slightly smudged. She had gotten to all her classes on time because nobody had stopped her in the corridor to talk about an upcoming party. Nobody made her feel like she shouldn't be sticking her hand up in class to answer a question, she was already a nobody; being smart suddenly wasn't forbidden. It felt like a huge weight of responsibility had been lifted off her shoulders. She wasn't sure how long that feeling would last for however before it gave way to the irritation that was a constant niggling at the back of her head. Every time people's eyes slipped straight over her rather than staring in awe, every time her voice didn't command the attention of everyone in her classrooms, even though there had been relief there had also been a feeling of loneliness. She knew now that popularity was an illusion, people didn't really care about her, none of them even really liked her, but they had envied her, and that made her feel powerful, like her life had some special meaning. What was her life without that power? It was just… average, and Quinn Fabray was anything but average!

"Quinn?" She was jerked out of her thoughts, and looked up to find Finn waving a hand in front of her face. "Spacey?" He queried with a slightly joking smile. She quickly apologised and asked him if he had had any ideas.

"I was thinking that we could do a duet, you know, I know you have to do an audition and stuff, and I thought if I did it with you, you might not, you know, be so nervous. Not that I'm saying you are nervous or anything, but it might just be easier," he said all this rather quickly, and Quinn couldn't help but giggle slightly at his hurried back tracking.

"I'll be okay," she said, once again internally cursing her stubborn pride. Finn's face fell slightly, there was that kicked puppy feeling again; how did he do that?

"Oh," he said quietly, "Well, if you want any back up, I play drums, and Artie plays guitar, so… just ask yeah?" she fought back against the shouting voices in her head, that were telling her to once again reject his help, that she had to prove she could do this totally alone. She smiled slightly at him and nodded, thanking him.

"Got any ideas then?" He asked bouncing slightly in his seat like a small child; except that he was at least a foot taller than just about everyone else in the room. She shook her head, frowning slightly at everyone else in the room, all of whom seemed to be brimming with plans for their respective performances. Rachel had been talking particularly loudly to Noah Puckerman behind them, every now and then she would quiet slightly at his instruction, but steadily the volume of her speech would rise until the next time he called her out.

Finn told her that was fine, that when he had first joined the club he never gave any input because he had no idea what to do. "You'll get into it," he said bracingly, and she felt a little better. Still, she wasn't used to not being the best, everyone around her was so used to this, throwing out ideas all over the place even starting on bits of choreography – Brittany and Mike were co-ordinating a pretty complex looking dance while Artie strummed his guitar – and she was sat here without a clue. Finn started waffling about some of his own ideas, and she let him, all the while desperately searching her brain for any song that began to explain her feelings on popularity.

Around ten minutes later a scared looking girl slipped into the club room, heading straight for Mr Schuester, who was now sat at a desk with papers in front of him. She said something quietly to him and then ran out again. He stood up, announcing to the class that Sue (Sylvester) had summoned him to her office; Quinn knew this to be a regular occurrence from Sue's rants about bringing the club down, so it wasn't surprising that most of the club simply rolled their eyes and then continued what they were doing as he walked out of the room.

"Why are you even here?"  
The whole club suddenly stopped talking, looking around at Santana, who was still sat alone at the back of the room, Quinn wondered if she had actually done anything for the last fifteen minutes, or whether she had just been awaiting an opportunity to take a swipe.

"I don't think that's your business," she sniffed, holding her head a little higher as she regarded the Latina girl.

"Don't get all high and mighty," Santana snapped, "You get kicked off the cheerio's fine, but why are you here, you clearly have no idea what's going on, you've never even given the club the time of day…"  
"Leave her alone Santana," Finn snapped, and the Latina frowned at him.

"I'm just saying, we don't know what her motives are, she thought she was so much better than us before, wouldn't have given the club the time of day and now suddenly she wants in? Seems suspicious to me…"  
"If I remember rightly, spying on this club was your job, S," Quinn replied with a faux innocent smile in the girls direction "Ms Sylvester was so disappointed in you when you stopped feeding her info," Santana's frown deepened, and Quinn thought that she might just jump her at any moment. Good, she thought, a good cat fight might help her vent some of her own frustrations.

"If you guys want to just blindly trust her when only a week ago she was laughing at your slushie covered faces, that's fine," Santana threw her hands up in mock surrender and leant back into her chair. Quinn half wanted to say something really mean to spark a proper fight.

"It is a little bit fishy," Mercedes spoke slowly from across the room; Kurt who stood behind her seemed to agree.

"It wouldn't be the first time…" Tina said quietly from beside Mike and Brittany.

"She's not a spy, okay," Finn said loudly, turning on the spot to look at every member of the club, "I asked her to join yesterday and she said she'd try it, that's all! She didn't even want to at first, and I told her that you guys had really helped me out this year. We're supposed to be accepting in here,"

"It's fine Finn," Quinn said, laying a hand on his arm to silence him. She turned a haughty glare on the club room.

"I'm not here to spy on you all or mess things up for you," She said, bending to pick up her bag; she slung it over her shoulder. "But clearly I'm not welcome here,"

Ignoring the 'you got that right' shot at her from Santana, she marched out of the club room, letting the door slam shut behind her.

"Are you guys happy now?" She heard Finn shout angrily, and she leant against the lockers beside the door again. There were a few muffled replies, and then Finn was shouting again.

"You guys don't know what's going on with her, she's gone through a lot recently," She couldn't help but feel slightly warm inside, hearing his indignation on her behalf. There were more muffled responses, she was sure that she picked up on Rachel Berry's voice, and Kurt – who was closest to the door – said something about how she had stood by just the other day when he, Mercedes and Tina had all been simultaneously slushied.

"I thought this club was meant to be about second chances," Finn's voice came clear through the closed door, "I thought it was about everyone having somewhere to _belong_,"

Belong. Quinn blinked, losing track of the conversation happening in the room behind her. Where did she belong? She wasn't really sure anymore. She hadn't been sure for a good long while, but she had refused to really think about it. Even with all the other problems in her life she still had a label that she could cling to. Popular. She was head cheerleader, she was Quinn Fabray, she was the most popular girl in school. She had a place, she might not be sure of anything else anymore but that much she knew. Then yesterday, all that had been ripped away from her. Now not only did she not know where she stood in her own home with her own family – yes her father had done something terrible, but she still loved him, he was her daddy – but now she couldn't even get up in the morning, pull on her cheerio's uniform and feel like her life had some kind of stability or normality. She couldn't walk into the school and feel like she had a place there. She was invisible, she was nothing anymore. Maybe that was why she had been quick to agree to join glee club, she was clutching at anything she could to find somewhere she could belong.

The door beside her slammed suddenly open and Finn came storming out, marching off down the corridor, apparently having not noticed her.

"Finn," She said, pushing herself off the lockers and walking after him. He stopped upon hearing her voice and turned to face her, apologies written all over his face, as well as the remnants of his anger; his cheeks were red, his breathing slightly heavier than normal and his brow furrowed.

"Quinn, I'm…"

"It's okay," She said, coming up beside him.

"No it's not, Santana had no right to say that to you!" he was shouting again, and Quinn sighed loudly.

"That's not totally true, it is my fault she was demoted to the bottom of the pyramid… I was the one who told Sylvester about her implants," She said musingly, if she was fair to the Latina she had every reason to hate Quinn right now. Finn looked as if he'd just been tripped over, and he stumbled over his words a little.

"Well, yeah but… I mean… still she's far from a saint, barely a day goes by without her insulting one or more of us in there,"

Quinn smiled at him, "Thanks Finn," she said, meaning it. She was really grateful to him for trying to help her, for standing up for her. She didn't think she could remember anyone ever doing that for her.

They walked a little way down the corridor and sat themselves down on the stairs to the school's first floor in silence. Seconds ticked by and Quinn's mind wondered away again onto where she was supposed to belong, and suddenly the lyrics to a song she hadn't heard in years filtered into her mind, and she knew that it was the perfect song to express herself.

"I know what song I want to sing tomorrow," She said quietly, giving her tone a determined edge. Finn looked at her, obviously surprised that she intended to come back to Glee club again, then he smiled widely at her, delighted.  
"That's great," he replied.

"Would you help me?" She asked turning to look at his face; he nodded enthusiastically.

"Totally, I'm free after school today so we can get the music you need and practise," She nodded at him, grateful for his support and feeling her resolve building inside her, she was going to show Santana that she could sing, sing a relevant song and sing it well. Show them all that she could belong in Glee club, and if it meant throwing out her confused feelings in front of a crowd of people then so be it.

* * *

**Reviews are the surest way to show you care =). Xx Rini**


	3. Wednesday  Part One

**I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know I suck -! Please forgive me, this chapter has caused me a lot of grief. I hadn't really ever planned this to be more than a oneshot, and then I wrote chapter 2 on a whim and set myself up for a third and now I actually have to work out some kind of direction XD. **

**Anyways, please forgive my awful updating… I'll try to be more prompt from now on. I'm going to carry this story hopefully all the way to Nationals, and I'll be trying to tie it in – from after this chapter – with actual episodes from about Furt onwards. **

**Wednesday P1.**

_I start the day in the usual way__  
__Then think - well why not -__  
__and stop for a coffee__  
__then begin to recall__  
__things that you say_

Wednesday ~ Amos Tori

Finn slammed a hand down on his alarm clock and then groaned loudly when the loud ringing noise didn't immediately stop. Blinking his eyes open he searched his room. A second alarm clock sat on the floor just out of arms reach, and a third taunted him from the top of his dresser.

Moaning loudly he lurched forward slightly, landing with a bang on the floor of his room and throwing his arm out to stop the second alarm. Two down. He contemplated for a moment whether he could sleep despite the still rather loud noise coming from the dresser, and his unusual position half on and half off his bed. The position itself, he thought, was actually surprisingly comfortable; his duvet had decided to come along with him, so he wasn't cold, and the carpet of his room felt soft against his face. The ringing noise however, continued to burrow its way into his brain, refusing to allow him to drift off again. It was a combination of this, and the smell of bacon that had begun to drift through the gap under his door, that finally convinced him to just get up.

Getting up, however, was easier thought than done.

He used his arms to heave his upper body from the floor, whilst swinging his legs from the bed. The result was that he twisted in the middle, and came falling back to earth with another loud bang. He stilled for a few moments, and vaguely he heard his mother's worried voice calling up to him, as he lay in a tangled heap of limbs and bed covers on the floor; and he shouted out what he hoped was an assurance that he was, in fact, okay. As he did so, he began the now almost impossible task of untangling himself from his duvet, thrashing about on the floor and immensely pleased that nobody could see him right now. As for the alarm clock, it seemed to decide its job was done, and fell mockingly silent as he finally threw the duvet back up onto the bed and pulled himself to his feet.

As it turned out, the plan he had been cursing all morning had almost worked perfectly, and he was only five minutes late meeting with Quinn at the corner they'd agreed upon the day before. She raised an eyebrow at him as he approached, eyes taking in his rather dishevelled appearance.

"Did you walk into a door?" She questioned. Her gaze lingering on his face and he reached up a hand to touch the bruise he'd managed to give himself when he'd knocked his head on the underside of the bed during the earlier, frantic, de-duveting. Surprisingly he didn't feel like sharing this particular adventure with the pretty ex-cheerleader staring curiously up at him; so he just nodded. Walking into a door was less embarrassing than the truth.

"Yeah, sort of, it was an accident,"

Quinn scoffed lightly, shaking her head and starting to walk; he fell into step beside her.

"I didn't think you did it on purpose," she replied, glancing at him, her lips turning up into a teasing smile; he blushed. Somehow he always managed to make an absolute idiot of himself in front of her.

"So er, did you get the song down do you think?" He asked, rapidly turning the subject away from how much of a dork he was.

She went quiet, and the smile seemed to vanish without a trace as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. She did that when she was nervous; he had noticed it the night before, as he sat with her watching her practise. Her hand had clenched slightly on her bag strap as well, and she hitched it up on her shoulder slightly, as if trying to fill the gap between his question and her having to answer.

"Yup. They'll be blown away," Her voice was all confidence, but still her hand clutched at the bag, and there was something like doubt in those green eyes.

"I'm sure they will," Finn said with a small smile, leaning down slightly to nudge her shoulder and laughing lightly when she stumbled sideways. It seemed to break her out of whatever nerve induced thoughts she'd allowed herself to fall prey too, and she glared at him slightly – though there was a hint of a smile there too – shoving at his arm, hard. He too stumbled to the side, though barely, and it only made him laugh harder.

"Shut up," She said, the smile now barely concealed, "I'm going to be amazing!" and the confidence seemed more real this time. It was good to see, she seemed a whole new person this morning, compared to how she had been over the last two days.

"I didn't say otherwise," He returned, as they both turned the corner into the school car park. "You sounded great last night, you'll be awesome,"

"Finn!" He glanced away from Quinn to see Kurt running over towards them. Kurt didn't often run, in fact, Kurt never ran. Finn was so shocked to see Kurt running that he did a double take and had to refrain from rubbing his eyes to ensure he wasn't hallucinating. Kurt, very much real and clad in what Finn could only assume were highly expensive designer clothes, stopped in front of them and doubled over, leaning his hands on his knees and gasping slightly for breath.

Quinn caught Finn's eye, her expression confused; he returned the look briefly before turning back to the panting boy. "Kurt?" Kurt took a deep breath and straightened up.

"Karofsky cornered me in the locker rooms…" He began, but Finn – his temper flaring immediately – cut across him.

"Are you okay? That bastard, I'll…"

"I'm fine Finn," Kurt snapped, "It's Sam and Mike… they tried to stand up for me, and then the whole football team got involved,"

Finn glanced quickly at Quinn. He didn't need to say anything; she simply nodded at him and made a shooing motion with her hand. He sped off immediately, hearing Kurt murmur something as he began to follow.

* * *

The brawl was still in full flow when he burst through the boy's locker room doors, despite the best efforts of their new coach and, he noted, Mr Schuester. Perhaps Kurt had run into him on the way to find Finn.

Puck had apparently joined the fray as well, and was currently trying to put Azimio into a headlock; he was failing rather miserably and went flying back into a locker a few moments later. Artie was sat on the sidelines throwing helmets at various members of the team, and Mike and Sam themselves weren't visible; though Finn had a hunch they might be in the middle of the large crowd in the middle of the room that Coach Beiste was currently pulling boys out from. Having recovered from his sudden relocation to the lockers, Puck too dived into the pile; when he came back out again he was dragging a very dazed looking Mike with him. Finn took the opportunity and path that Puck had created to head in after Sam. He mustn't have timed it all that well, because he felt a fist connect with his head only a second after he reached the pile up. He flung his own arm out and felt his fist connect with something, and the space around him widened slightly. Counting that as a victory he ploughed on, using all the height and weight he had to push his way through to the middle. Somewhere in the back of his mind he noted that if he hadn't walked in with her, he wouldn't have seen Quinn until their first period and would have a much cooler and manlier story to explain away the large bruise on his face. He found Sam where he suspected he would, doing well given the odds, holding off Karofsky who looked manic. Finn pushed the two apart, stemmed the urge to smash his own fist into Karofsky's face as he noticed that Coach Beiste seemed to be winning her battle to get the group under control, and pulled Sam away. Puck must have followed him back in, with Mr Schuester alongside him, as the two managed to restrain Karofsky and everything stopped rather suddenly.

Finn glanced around, panting lightly, and noticed that Kurt had caught up and was stood in the doorway glaring daggers at Karofsky; who had finally stopped trying to pull out of the hold Puck and Mr Schuester had on him and was staring fixedly at the floor. Coach Beiste stepped into the middle of the room, glancing around at each member of the team at a time.

"Right, I don't know what happened here…"

"He's a homophobic asshole is what happened," Finn said loudly, cutting across Coach Beiste and pointing at Karofsky, who lurched forward at him and forced his captors to strengthen their grip. Finn clenched his fists ready in case he broke free.

"But!" Coach Beiste ploughed on, raising her voice to a threatening volume, "I _will not tolerate_ fighting in my team,"

"He was attacking Kurt!" Sam replied, glancing over to the doorway, Kurt returned the look briefly before the coach caught his eye. He nodded his head slightly.

"I didn't touch him!" Karofsky snarled.

"Only because we didn't let you," Mike snapped back, he still looked fairly dazed and one hand was holding the back of his head.

"I wasn't doing anything, we were just talking," There was a cocky edge to Karofsky's voice this time and Finn felt Sam tense up next to him.

"Enough!" Beiste shouted, her tone so menacing every footballer in the room quailed. "I want to know precisely who started this and see them in my office now, the rest of you can get out before I chuck you all off the team!"

There was a flurry of movement as most of the guys in the room moved as quickly as possible for the exit, grabbing equipment and bags and throwing them into lockers as they went. Finn was left standing at the side with Sam, Mike had sat himself down on a now empty bench, still clutching at his head slightly. Kurt had moved further into the room to avoid the team as they filed out, and Finn took a defensive step towards him as Puck and Mr Schuester finally released Karofsky.

"Alright, Puckerman, Hudson you can go," Beiste said, and Puck glanced briefly around before nodding and heading for the door, sending an expectant glance at Finn who stayed precisely where he was.

"Hudson, you were not here when this started, I saw you come in, go to your class."

"But Coach I…"

"Do I need to remind you that your place on this team is hanging by a thread already Hudson, if you fail your midterms I won't be allowed to keep you, go to your class!"Beiste's voice was steely, but there was an undercurrent of concern there as well; she wanted Finn on her team but she was tied to the same rules as every other coach, no academic screw ups on the team.

Finn sent a glance at Kurt who took a breath and nodded at him. He sighed and turned to follow Puck.

"And Hudson!" He glanced back, the coach was now helping Mike to his feet, "Take Chang to the school nurse on your way, I'll talk to him later," He nodded and slung one of Mike's arms around his shoulders and propping him upright as they walked towards the door.

* * *

"You look like hell," Quinn whispered as he sat down next to her in their U.S History class. He had only been five minutes late, and despite actually having a valid excuse for once, his teacher had still eyed him with look of suspicion as he had made his way to his seat. He therefore didn't answer Quinn right away, but pulled his textbook from his bag and opened it at the page written on the white board.

"Is Sam okay?" Quinn whispered again a few minutes later. Finn wasn't entirely sure how Quinn knew Sam well enough to care. He had joined the school earlier in the year and despite being on the football team, he had also quickly joined the Glee club and sealed his fate at the bottom of the social heap.

"Yeah," He whispered, "Mike came off pretty bad though, took a nasty hit to the head; he's lying down in the nurse's office,"

Quinn nodded, "And um… Kurt?" she added after a few moments.

Finn knew that she and Kurt weren't precisely on good terms, the previous Glee practise had pretty much confirmed that, and she probably wasn't aware of all the genuine trouble Kurt had been having with Karofsky. He could almost see in her face that it felt weird to be asking after him; and he rather got the impression that she was asking more for his sake than because she was actually concerned.

"Oh, uh I think he'll be okay. Coach will look after him… he's a bit shaken up about it, Karofsky's been hassling him a lot recently, it's been getting really bad,"

"Oh," Quinn looked back down at her own textbook, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. She seemed to get lost in thought after that, and the lesson went on with silence between them. Finn supposed she wasn't sure how to feel on hearing about Kurt being bullied, especially since she had probably sat by and let it happen plenty of times in the past; and done her own fair share of bullying in the last two years. He knew the feeling only too well, hell he'd been there himself at the beginning of the previous year, before Glee club. However, he liked to think he wasn't that person any more, that he was better, and maybe he could show Quinn that she was better too.

They parted ways at the end of the lesson, and almost as soon as Quinn had disappeared around the corner Rachel appeared rather suddenly at his side. He had always been both in awe of, and also rather scared by, her ability to appear from nowhere, but then, she was extremely small. He on the other hand towered above everyone and therefore utterly failed when it came to stealth.

"Are you two dating?"

Right to the point; that was the Rachel he knew. She never did like to dilly-dally around with small talk.

"Uh…" Finn was thrown immediately off guard, which he thought was probably why she was always so direct, it gave her the upper hand, despite her relatively none threatening appearance; given her size.

"So you are," Rachel frowned, and cross her arms over her chest "Look Finn, I understand that you and I need to move on, but don't you think it's a bit unfair of you to flaunt your new relationship at…"

"Woh, woh!" Finn tried to cut across her, waving his hands manically to get her attention; once she got into full stream it was difficult to stop her sometimes. "No," He said, once she had finally tailed off and looked at him. "We're not dating, I just… we spoke a few days ago, and she's going through a tough time and I thought that she could use some friends… I guess that didn't go so well," he added as an after-thought, cringing slightly as he recalled the debacle of yesterday's Glee rehearsal.

"Look, we're friends, and… hey, while we're on the subject what about you and Puck last week?"

Rachel shot him a confused and slightly withering glance, "Puckerman?"

"You were doing the duet and getting really... handsy, the other day,"

The confused expression died on her face and she looked suddenly rather sheepish, looking away from Finn and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. A nervous habit of hers.

"Oh, that," She said quietly, "Look, I was just... I guess, I wanted to make you jealous." she continued slowly, and Finn stared at her, the confused expression on his face this time.

"Rach... you broke up with me,"  
She glanced up at that, looking him directly in the eyes, "I was being a drama queen, you... you know what I can be like!"

He sighed. He did know what she got like, but that didn't mean it hurt any less that she had thrown their relationship away over something so silly, or that she didn't understand what football meant to him.

"Yeah..." He replied, after a few moments of silence, "I guess so," he wasn't sure what he was supposed to say in this situation. Girls didn't come with manuals, which was very unfortunate in his opinion; each one seemed to require a completely different approach.

Rachel stared at him for a few seconds longer before finally saying quietly, "So... you're not dating Quinn?"

Finn hesitated for a second, wondering if this was going where he thought it was going. He wasn't ready to go into a relationship right now, certainly not one with an ex. "No..." He said slowly, "and I... I think I want to just be, me for a while," he watched the comprehension dawn on Rachel's face, and she nodded her understanding, and he found his heart constrict at the pain on her face. No matter what he still cared about her a lot, she was his first proper girlfriend and they'd been through so much together.

"I don't want to lose you Rach, even before we went out we were... we were friends right?" She nodded again.

"Yeah," She said, letting a small smile cross her features, "We were, but I don't know if I can be just your friend anymore Finn,"

With that she bowed her head and walked around him and away. He stood watching her go, and it wasn't until she had disappeared around a corner and he suddenly realised the hallway was empty and there was a bell ringing that he snapped out of his staring and made a mad dash for his next class.

* * *

"Before we begin Mr Schue,"

Rachel's hand was in the air about two seconds after she began talking, as per usual. When Will gave her his usual tired nod of acknowledgement she stood up, clasping her hands together in front of her. Finn, for his part, sighed and let his head fall forwards.

"I for one, would like to take this opportunity to apologise to Quinn,"

Finn blinked, then shook his head, before finally turning to watch Rachel closely. He thought he caught her looking at him, for just a moment, before her attention was focussed solely on Quinn beside him; whose expression was a strange mix of surprise and suspicion. Finn wondered vaguely if she always suspected anyone who was even semi-nice to her.

"That's great Rache…"

"Glee club is about second chances, and since we have welcomed into our midst several less than innocent characters in the past," Here Rachel paused and let her eyes drift amongst the other club members, many of whom rolled their eyes back at her, "I believe it was very unfair of us to judge Quinn before she's had a chance to prove herself," and with that, she sat down smartly, looking heartily pleased with herself. Finn stared at her a few moments longer. He wasn't sure whether she had really meant that or not, but he wasn't going to look a gifthouse... was that the phrase? Well he wasn't going to look it in the mouth. So he quickly stood up himself, putting a hand on Quinn's shoulder and smiling over at Rachel, who beamed back.

"Exactly," He said, "We've all done stuff we aren't proud of in the past, and we all forgave each other for it, so it's time we gave Quinn her chance,"

There were mixed reactions on the faces of his fellow Glee club members, some looked unsure, others – or Santana – looked like he had just said something stupid about aliens or something, but for the most part there seemed to be a look of general agreement and acceptance. Sam, who had been absent the previous day, seemed completely happy with the new addition to their team, and he whispered something that sounded like good luck when Quinn rose to take her place at the front of the class and Finn moved to sit behind the drum-kit, his eye never leaving Quinn.

She looked nervous again, her eyes flicking back and forth across the choir room as if looking for the easiest exit. He caught her gaze as it passed over him, and smiled encouragingly at her, watching as she took a deep breath and nodded almost imperceptibly at him. Then, she turned her head fully to face the band, signalling that they should begin. Her voice rang through the room only seconds after Finn began his section, and though he could barely hear her over his drumming, he could see the change of expression on the faces in the room. He smiled to himself as he continued to play, a feeling of pride washing over him as he watched the club starting to sway along, and Tina and Brittany grinned at each other before starting to sing along as backup.

**TBC... from Quinn's point of view – and then you get to find out her song choice ;P because I am cruel.**


End file.
